Easy Slow Cooker Monkey Bread (Gooey & Perfect Every Time)
Making breakfast for a crowd isn’t very simple; there’s just a lot of moving parts. Luckily, some recipes make the process easier. One of those recipes is our easy slow cooker monkey bread that can be served at breakfast time or as a dessert after dinner.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Anytime Recipe – An anytime recipe fits into multiple meal slots throughout the day. You can enjoy this monkey bread as breakfast, a snack, or even dessert.
- Easy to Make – This dish is very delicious, so much so that guests will think you spent a lot of time preparing it.
- Custom Dish – You can easily make this dish the way we lay it out here, or add some toppings you prefer, change the fruit filling, or sauce it up in different ways.
What is Monkey Bread?
Our easy slow cooker monkey bread is a breakfast recipe that doubles as a dessert, even for picky eaters. Well, first, we need to define “monkeying” food. Think about how monkeys groom one another, then think about seeing someone pull off a piece of bread from a pull-apart bread.
Looks similar, doesn’t it? That is monkeying with food, and where this dish got its name. It is nothing more than sweet pull-apart bread that is filled and covered with ooey, gooey goodness.
The pull-apart nature of monkey bread makes it an easy choice for feeding a crowd, whether at breakfast or snack time. The beautiful aspect of the gooey part is that you can make it whatever you want; more on that later.
Crock Pot Monkey Bread Ingredients
- Pillsbury Grands Cinnamon Roll – This recipe won’t use many ingredients, unless you want it to, of course. These cinnamon rolls can be turned into monkey bread if baked correctly.
- Canned Dark Sweet Cherries – We use dark sweet cherries, but this is where some customization comes into play. You can use whatever canned fruit you like most.
How to Make Easy Slow Cooker Monkey Bread
- Cover the inside of your Crockpot with parchment paper and spray nonstick cooking spray.
- Open each can of cinnamon rolls. Set the icing packets aside.
- Cut each individual roll into four pieces.
- Cover the inside of your Crockpot with parchment paper, then spray it with nonstick cooking spray.
- Place the dough pieces on the bottom of the crockpot to create a layer.
- Pour the dark, sweet cherries into a small bowl and gently mash with a potato masher to create small pieces of cherries.
- Pour 1/2 of the cherry mixture over the first layer of cinnamon roll pieces.
- Layer the remaining dough pieces on top of the first layer and cherries.
- Spoon or pour the remaining cherry mixture on the dough.
- Cover the Crockpot and cook on high for about 2 hours. Check the monkey break at the one-hour point, then again every 30 minutes to make sure it doesn’t overcook.
- When your monkey bread is done, the edges will start to brown, and the dough will rise.
- When done, turn off the Crockpot and let it cool for about 5 minutes.
- Carefully remove the monkey bread from the parchment paper and place it on a platter or serving tray.
- Drizzle the icing packets over the monkey bread.
- Enjoy!
How to Prepare and Store Monkey Bread
This easy slow cooker monkey bread recipe is just that, easy. However, there are some caveats to such an easy recipe. Making this one ahead of time may not be the best option. We don’t want the dough to get soggy or worse, dry out.
We can prepare things ahead of time to make the process easier. Simply open and prepare the cinnamon roll dough, place it in an airtight container, and store it in the fridge up to a day ahead.
We can also store leftovers for a short period of time. Treat it like you would a cake or cookies. Store any leftovers in an airtight container at room temperature. Just be sure to eat leftovers before things get too soggy.
Slow Cooker Monkey Bread Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 cans Pillsbury Grands Cinnamon Rolls 5 per can
- 1 Can Dark Sweet Cherries
Instructions
- Open each can of cinnamon rolls. Set the icing packets aside.
- Cut each individual roll into 4 pieces.
- Cover the inside of your Crockpot with parchment paper and spray nonstick cooking spray.
- Place the dough pieces on the bottom of the crockpot to create a layer.
- Pour the dark sweet cherries into a small bowl and gently mash with a potato masher to create small pieces of cherries.
- Pour or spoon 1/2 of the cherry mixture onto the first layer of cinnamon roll pieces.
- Layer the remaining dough pieces on top of the first layer and cherries.
- Spoon or pour the remaining cherry mixture on the dough.
- Cover the Crockpot and cook on high for about 2 hours. Check the monkey break at the one hour point and then again over each of the next 30 minutes to make sure it doesn’t overcook.
- When you monkey bread is done, the edges will start to brown and the dough will rise.
- When done turn off the Crockpot and let it cool for about 5 minutes.
- Carefully remove the monkey bread from the parchment paper and place on a platter or serving tray.
- Drizzle the icing packets over the top of the monkey bread.
- Enjoy!
More Slow Cooker Recipes
Slow Cooker Chicken and Rice | Chicken and rice would be a great dinner to enjoy before serving up some monkey bread as a dessert.
Slow Cooker Beef Roast with Potatoes and Carrots | Don’t want chicken? Beef and potatoes are another classic dish that works really well as dinner.
Crockpot Apple Crisp with Cake Mix Recipe | Apple crisp is a bit lighter than monkey bread, but still an amazing breakfast or dessert. You decide.
How to Make Crockpot Meatballs | Crockpot meatballs are so easy to make and filled with flavor in each bite.
Slow Cooker Breakfast Casserole Recipes | Monkey bread can be used as a breakfast food, but you can also make an entire breakfast casserole and save the monkey bread for dessert.
